Saturation of SOS Médecins services at the end of the year. “Sorry sir, we don’t have any doctors available until 10pm tonight. “In the midst of “unprecedented tensions”, the services of SOS Médecins are facing “a double tension”: a triple epidemic and a strike by certain liberal doctors.
“We tried to adapt to the number of patients by extending our guards, but these last few days have been very complicated”, admits Urfan Ashraf, vice-president of SOS Médecins Grand Paris. The doctor and his 35 colleagues on call in Paris take care of between 1,200 and 1,500 people a day, or “30% more than last year”, says the doctor, desperate. Last week, a peak of 1,630 appointments was reached, unheard of for ten years.
Between 30 and 40 people on telephone hold per post
Two factors led SOS Médecins into this mess. On the one hand, a winter “triple epidemic” with Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza “which is reaching a peak”. On the other, the strike of liberal general practitioners, to which the collective “Doctors for tomorrow” called between Christmas and New Year’s Day to demand the doubling of the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros).
A movement that SOS Médecins “supports”, says Urfan Ashraf, but which “redirects patients to our services, which are already saturated”.
In the nearby call center, Malika Touita, 57, sees the calls coming and going on her computer screen. As a telephone operator, she “is the first level of care”. In recent days, she too has found herself overwhelmed, with between 30 and 40 people waiting. “We always try to find a solution for everyone. If it’s not a doctor, it’s a duty pharmacy, for example. »
How to deal with the current tensions? For Dr. Arshraf, the solution is clear: “if I had double or even triple the number of doctors, we could perhaps contain demand this winter”.